INSTRUCTIONS

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise. Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

BROWSE ISSUES allows you to browse through every available issue.

A FREE APP allows you to download issues to your mobile device for offline viewing. Get the Model Railroader Archive app in the iTunes and Google Play stores.

\ first traib wants to get out on the main again so we need a third boundary, like this: 1,0,n ly 1 ... •'r.: New boundaiy f 7.8 Train 2 This insures that the two trains, now both on the main line, are separated by at least one boundary. These three lioundaries are a minimum requirpment at any passing siding, but four boundaries are more often used just to keep things symmetrical: Block 1 -X. Block 2 Block 3 X. * Fig.1 t 3 Most blocks should be longer than your trains. Leave a little room at each end. where the trains will move fast. 3. But where traffic is heavy, you may want to allow only about half a train length per block. This makes shorter blocks that permit trains to follow one another more closely. (See Fig. 3.) Block 4 You can analyze every part of your track in this way, and you'll end up with from half a dozen up to twenty or more such boundaries depending on your track plan. When you're through, the lengths of track extending between one boundary and the next are your "blocks" or more properly "control blocks." This process would be tedious if you had to figure everything out, but you don't. Here are some simple rules that apply to common track patterns, and they'll account for most of your blocks if not all of them. 1. Try to keep the blocks longer than your trains, as Fig. 1. 2. If there is room, blocks should be considerably longer (see Fig. 2) than your trains in any territory Af\ VI, I »\I Catalina el C C N f3 f Ft'\343 Fig. 5 -% 9 F 0• Top of grade..#28 Ni'rI-.E., E C 4 F \\, \ A :,a-----1, 4. Along any given route, whether oval or. point-to-point, allow enough blocks so that there can be an empty block per train in addition to those blocks the trains actually occupy, as in Fig. 4. 5. If a switcher must sometimes use part of the main line near a siding or at the end of a yard, consider a short block in the main line near the yard. This allows - the switcher to use that part of the main line and still permits any mainline trains to approach closer to the yard before waiting r Fig. 2 r Where trains move fast and rarely stop, blocks can be longer if space permits. as another train has cleared it. 7. Be sure to put a block boundary in the middle of any crossover between double track whenever trains might move on both tracks at the same time. 8. Consider the use of short blocks at the bottom and top of grades so that the control of the helper and the regular road engine can be separate when the helper is coupling on or uncoupling from the train. In this case the block boundary should be located approximately under the coupler of the helper engine. 9. If in doubt, having too many blocks will do little harm, butmay add to the cost of control panel. A Practical Example The railroad in Fig. 5 takes only a for the switching maneuvers to modest space considering its track be completed. Without such a short block the mainline train pattern, and it's a good one on which to practice block planning. Fig. 6 shows might have to wait at quite some the boundaries I'd recommend for distance from the yard. This will most model railroad operations. be illustrated later on. 6. Places where trains will pass over too. This helps keep your wiring unthe same point in quick succes- I've assigned each block a number, tangled. On a small railroad you can sion, though over different routes, number blocks any way you want. On such as at crossings and junctions, a bigger railroad, it pays to be more should be i s 01 ated into small systematic. The planners of real railblocks. This is so one train can roads number their signal blocks acget into the zone just as soon cording to the distance from some ar- R ..1//1/,ss-ERe,7,<Cl,..r AP)00:· ' SP=--*0/p2/Pine:.(2"t·;, /// *** 4 R fe 1 Thunder Creek 4 • '..., Highview r-1<./-/• 1 -,-'-'-'-'-'-t' .C «./," Yard (level) E • Top of grade4,4.0 P 0.85% "44-•14&8•/<7/n 7_ Bristol \L.Z...+4'.3-'iT.fi'.21' -=»/-- b 8 1 f Up 3% •40•,l••9254f f ». , e 1 ZIE:Zt)x .,>·:4 -r - W-olf Switch #$ ** *\ il *.*.-Crite=sEE'•r, 1,-5611..----'' /* Holston,:\ = sse =e036-00 •garvale 4-- 13,3, . ..,IR 43*\ S :9 C• , 1-l 1 -=97-*-+ * J,10 1,111'*." li l l l1'1111iiiIN11 •_I · 1.(l=D'lon,e, »1 b *41 1. ilitl Inf'\•t•i.• I. A 42« .S. '4 1, b#_7 t -Tho• • Model Railroader k» 25